The Perseverance rover is set to make a store of rocks that can be brought home by a future mission.
The location for the drop is a flat piece of terrain that's been nicknamed "Three Forks".
The Three Forks depot is critical, therefore, "because it guarantees that a scientifically high-value sample collection will be available for Earth return in case Perseverance is unable to deliver for any reason," explained mission scientist Meenakshi Wadhwa from Arizona State University.If the nightmare happens and Perseverance dies, the fetch mission will be directed straight to Three Forks.
The sedimentary rocks are the ones that will have the greatest interest in trying to identify traces of ancient biology.A delta is a structure built up from the silt and sand dumped by a river as it slows on entry into a wider body of water.Image source,The fine-grained layered rocks of the delta may retain evidence of past microbial life on the Red Planet
It will take just over a month to lay down the store. The tubes will be placed about 6m apart from each other in a zig-zag pattern. Their exact positions will then be photographed and catalogued.If Perseverance dies, helicopters will retrieve the tubes from Three Forks
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